Through the Fairy Ring
by NorthernDownpour143
Summary: At one point in time they were magical portals that would take you to the fairy world and allow humans to do business there and vice versa. But that was just a legend. Fairies hadn't been around in the Enchanted Forest for years anyways. So explain why when Emma accidentally steps into the ring and finds herself in a whole different world.
1. Chapter 1

All she could hear was the thundering of hooves behind her as she ran through the forest. It was light enough that people could see, so there was no place to hide. She came to a stop in the middle of a clearing and looked in every direction to see which way she would go next. In front of her the clearing opened to what sounded like a stream. To her left and right, the forest grew thick with brush the deeper you went. And behind her the sounds of the hooves grew louder.

She decided to take her chance with the stream and went straight ahead. She knew anyone with half a brain would go to a water source to try and get away from people who were hunting them.

As she went forth, the sounds of the hooves grew fainter behind her until she could hear them no more. She continued through the field and was met with a hill the moment she hit the tree line. Looking around she could see that there was no safer way to get down than the spot in front of her, so she carefully started to slide down the hill, taking one step at a time and dodging trees.

At the bottom of the hill, her eyes focused in on her target and she smiled at herself. She had finally found it!

There, on the other side of the stream, was the buck that she had set out to find earlier that morning. It had eluded her all morning and most of the early afternoon, but now she had finally caught up to it.

Emma slowly pulled out her bow and equipped an arrow and carefully aimed at the animal that was about 200 yards away; an easy shot by her mother's standards. As she was just about to let her arrow go, another arrow flew past her head and into the animal's chest, dropping dead instantly. Her eyes were wide as she saw her hunt laying on the ground with an arrow that wasn't hers.

"Nice try there. Thanks for leading me to him darling," a soft voice declared behind her. Emma sighed and put her arrow back and bow away.

"Mother," she moaned, "You know I had him! I was about ready to aim when you came in and shot him before I did." Emma turned to fully face her mother at that point.

Queen Snow just laughed as she flipped her braided her behind her back and knelt next to her daughter. "Emma, you still have much to learn about the forest. Yes, your archery skills are nothing short of spectacular now. But you need to learn to read animals. If you did, you would have known that the buck had grown stiff and weary. He was getting ready to dash and you would have missed your shot if you had taken it."

Emma couldn't help but agree with her mother. She knew that she had more work to do if she was to know as much as her mother did. But being on the run from the Evil Queen kind of forced her to become very good very quickly or die trying. Emma had the luxury of learning at her own pace.

"You're right. Maybe that will be the next lesson?" she asked her mother, hope quickly bubbling in her voice at the thought of moving on in the lessons. Snow just nodded her head and smiled as she watched her daughter jump up and down with excitement.

"Just remember, it's still a race to see who will get the animal first. And I will still win," Snow said with a wink to Emma, who in turn scoffed before headed to the fallen dear.

"Oh Emma, don't worry about it! The dwarves said if we get it today, they would take it home and cook it up for dinner!" Snow called from the trees behind her.

She only smiled back at her with a little tint of rebellion in her eyes. "Well, that's good that he won't go to waste but I don't think it's fair that they have to come all the way out here to get it just to take him all the way home…"

"Emma Ruth…" Snow started calling, "I know exactly what you're thinking and the answer is no! Don't you remember the last time you tried that?"

Emma just shrugged her shoulders a little and looked back. "Okay, so I accidentally ended up in the swamps with the Ogres. Nothing bad happened. We now have a growing friendship with them because of it."

Snow couldn't help but drop her head in defeat. Of course, she had to bring that part up. How did she forget! It's not like she couldn't stop her anyways because no matter what…

THUMP!

Snow White looked up quickly from her spot and started running to where her daughter had just been. The area was now surrounded in a white, heavy smoke and she could hear someone coughing in it. She reached for her arrows, never knowing what was going to happen when her daughter used her magic for teleporting to other areas. Sometimes nothing appeared, sometimes birds or other small animals appeared. One time a child appeared and they cried the whole time until they were reunited with their mother.

The smoke in the area was starting to clear up and Snow could make out a small person in the middle of it. She started to put her bow away, not wanting to scare a child with it and got closer to help them up. As she got closer, the coughing started to turn to sneezing and she feared the child may have gotten too much smoke in their lungs... until she saw that it wasn't a small child at all.

"Sneezy?" She cried. The dwarf just looked up at her and smiled and then went right back to sneezing. "Oh goodness. Well, at least that means she made it to your home this time," she said as she helped him up and they started walking back to the castle.

Later that evening, after much thanks from the dwarfs for dinner and three failed attempts to get back home, Emma sat in her room getting herself ready to turn in for the night. She sat in front of her vanity brushing out her long, golden hair and then weaved it into a braid for bed. As she sat, she pondered over her magic.

How come she was the only person in her family to have magic? No one else had ever heard of any ancestors being able to wield it. She had been told that it was because she was the product of true love and that sometimes those born because of it were blessed with magic. But that was only a legend. No one in this land was able to wield magic except for two people: the Dark One and Fairies. Although she had heard that fairies could bestow magic onto those they deem worthy, but they never gave it to a newborn. It was always an older adult. And she had been born with it.

Oh well. It didn't matter anyway. The last person to have powers bestowed upon them was the Evil Queen who had been taken down by her parents many years ago. Ever since the Evil Queen's reign the fairies had all but disappeared from the Enchanted Forest, leaving the place without magic for at least 20 years. That was, until Emma was born. And she was learning from her books pretty well.

Emma shook her head violently to get her thought out of her head. Every time she started thinking too hard on the subject she always ended up with migraines and the next day was horrible to get through. She got up from her stool and walked her way over to her bed and laid down. As she started to drift off to sleep she looked out her windows and out into the forest and let her mind wander to the next lesson she was to learn tomorrow.

The next day Emma had awoken with much anticipation. Her mother was going to finally teach her how to read the animals and find effective ways to communicate. She was always in awe when she would watch her mother calmly walk up to a woodland creature, gently talking to it, and just pick it up and start petting it, or the animal would come to her and perch on her arms. When Emma tried all she did was scare the poor creature away while her mother giggled behind her. She wondered why she didn't teach her this first when they started this when she was five. Why wait until she was 16? Oh well, better late than never.

Or at least that's what she had said this morning. It was already afternoon; the sun was at its highest peak and was beating down relentlessly on the princess and the Queen. The trees offered some shelter from the sun, but the shade was sparse as they were in the less dense part of the forest closer to the castle.

"Mom," Emma cried, "can we please take a small break? It's so hot out today!" She had taken a seat on a stump nearby.

Snow just turned around and looked at her poor offspring. "Emma, we need to get to the rabbit's hole before long. If we stop, they'll be gone by the time we get there!"

Emma only let out a loud sigh when she got an idea in her head. "Hey how about this. You keep walking, I'll stay here for just a minute or two and then run to catch up with you. I know where the rabbit hole is so even if I don't find you I can find it!"

Snow looked down at her daughter and closed her eyes. Didn't she know running was only going to exhaust her more? When she opened them again she saw Emma bouncing in her seat and just smiled weakly. How else was she going to learn?

"Okay, but don't be too long. If you get lost I may have to send Ruby out to find you."

Emma's smile was huge and it made Snow's heart melt a little. Her baby girl was growing up and there was nothing she could do to stop or slow it down. She gave her a smile back and turned around to keep walking towards their destination.

Emma sat back further on her stump until she met the tree behind her and closed her eyes. It really was a beautiful day out. But it was just too hot for them to be doing anything. Even her father, who loves to train every day, decided to stay indoors today. Now that was saying something.

When she was sure her mother was far enough away that she couldn't hear, or see her, Emma opened her eyes and pulled out a little bag of rice. She put one grain in her palm, covered it with her other hand, and began to chant silently until she saw a white light come from her hands. With anticipation, she opened her hands and let out a shriek of joy. In her hand was not only the grain she started with, but at least ten more! She had finally gotten the duplication spell down! She started putting the rice back into her bag, seeing as how it's been way longer than the two or three minutes her mother had told her, and got up to start in the direction of the rabbit hole.

Emma had only walked a few yards when she came upon a peculiar site. Before her was a large circle of mushrooms, or better known as a fairy circle. She thought back to all the readings she'd done and wondered how it ended up here? These rings only appeared when a fairy was around who was willing to help out a human should they find their ring. And well, seeing as how no fairy had been in this land for 20 or so years, they were all gone, their magic taken with their fairy. Could this just be the way the mushrooms wanted to grow? Oh well, no matter. She had a rabbit hole to get to and a wolf to keep off her back if she was late.

And so, not even thinking twice about it, Emma began to step into the fairy circle to make her way to her mom, when all of a sudden her vision grew dark. The trees around her began to fade from her sight. The ground underneath felt like it was giving way.

And then, there was nothing.

 **Hello all and thanks for reading. This story was my gift for my CSSV this year. Hope you enjoyed it! Please let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

Emma felt like she was falling. And she was surrounded by nothing but darkness. She tried to reach her hand out to try and catch herself on anything she could grasp but she was met with nothing but air.

After what seemed like hours of falling, Emma saw a shimmer of light start to surround her. The light started out as a small twinkle around her feet and then started to slowly engulf her entire body. What started out as a white light started to turn a soft orange glow and grew brighter by the minute until it was to blinding and caused Emma to cover her eyes.

Before she felt like she was falling. Now she felt something solid forming under her feet. She slowly felt the ground under her becoming more solid as the light around her faded, but she was scared to uncover her eyes. What had happened to her? Where was she?

She slowly started to hear things again, and they didn't sound like anything she was used to. She heard a faint buzzing sound above her. The surrounding environment also smelled a little different. It wasn't the pine scent she was used to at home. That pine scent was still there, but there was another scent that followed it. She started to sniff the air a little and she smelled… was that clove she smelled? That was certainly something she was not used to smelling in her forest back home.

Home. Where had she ended up?

After what felt like hours of seeing nothing, Emma slowly began to open her eyes.

And she was met with three faces looking down upon her with curiosity… except they were floating? No, they were hovering with wings. Where in the world was she?!

"Oh my," she heard them murmur.

"Where did she come from?"

"What is she doing here?"

"Is she a human?!"

"Where are her wings?"

The men above her stopped looking at her to converse amongst themselves, paying no attention to the approaching person coming over the hill. They were approaching quite quickly from what Emma saw. Could she even try to flee? They weren't paying attention to her anymore. So, heeding one of her mother's lessons: she fled even though she didn't see any chance of her getting away. It was better than staying around and leaving things to chance. At least she was fighting.

"Hey! Come back!" she heard them call from behind her but she didn't hear footsteps. Of course there wouldn't be any. They had wings! So instead of listening to footsteps, she tried to listen to the buzzing sound she heard earlier. And she heard them, and from the sound of things they were close.

She quickly looked around her surroundings. There was nothing but trees all around her, with an occasional rock or boulder. The ground was just dirt and grass. There was nowhere for her to hide. Sure she could try and climb a tree, but what was the point when they could just fly up and find her?

When she thought that she was completely out of luck and was just going to have to give in, she came across a tree with exposed roots, enough room for her to squeeze in quickly. As she jammed herself into the small hole, she heard the men fly by, followed by their questions as they shouted to each other.

"Where did she go?" one of them asked.

"I'm not sure! I thought you had an eye on her Jefferson?" one answered.

"Me? I thought you were the one with the best eyes Victor!" the one she thought was Jefferson shouted back.

She almost chuckled at their bickering. Almost. She was still unsure as to who they were or what they wanted from her. Hell, she didn't even know where she was. And they had asked if she was a human, so that meant she most definitely wasn't home. _Think Emma, think!_ What had happened prior to her getting here? She had been sitting down, tried her magic on rice and she had done it right! Her mother would be so excited to hear about that! And then she had gotten up and came across a fairy circle…

Oh no. How could that be? That wasn't even possible, was it? They'd been gone from the forest for years, taking their magic with them. The only one she had ever seen was Blue, but she stayed in her small form, never taking her full human size and leaving immediately after meetings to go home. Was she really in the fairy world? _Crap_ was the only thing she could think of in that moment. Well, it did explain the wings. And why they wondered if she was a human. And really it explained everything. But she still didn't trust them.

"Hello!" said someone from beside her. Emma's only response was to scream, close her eyes, and hit the person who had startled her. "Ow, you know that hurt right?"

Emma looked up and opened her eyes to see a boy who looked to be around her age, jet black, unruly hair, and the bluest eyes she had ever seen.

"So they were right. You are a human. How did you get here?" the boy asked. Emma just stared at him with her mouth wide open. He tilted his head to the side a little and smiled at her. "Pardon my manners. It's just, I've never seen a human before and curiosity has taken over me. My name is Killian. Those four idiots who you saw before were my friends, Jefferson, Victor, and Will," he held his hand out to shake hers. It was then that she realized she was still in the roots of the tree and began to shimmy out, her knees scrapping the tree on the way out. Killian just backed up to give her enough space.

As she got out she wiped herself of the dirt she had gathered and finally landed on his hand that was still held out. Well, she may as well use the manners her father said she had but never used. She reached out and grabbed his hand and gave him a nice, strong hand shake that her father would have been proud of. Killian's smile only grew at her acceptance.

"Forgive my friends earlier. They were only chasing you so that you wouldn't get lost or hurt. A human doesn't find their way here very often," Killian said putting his hand behind his neck and smiled.

Emma smiled back at him. Honestly, she couldn't help it. He made her feel comfortable for some reason. And they had only just met. "It's okay, Killian. Please understand I only did it to protect myself," she explained. "I didn't know their intentions and so I took my chances and hide in the forest…" she trailed off. Wait. She had hidden so how did he find her?

"I found you by following your footsteps," he seemed to read her mind as he answered her train of thought. "May I ask you your name lass?"

"Emma," she blurted out without thinking and immediately blushed. Why was she doing that?

Killian smiled and moved back a little to move into a low bow. "Killian Jones, Crown Prince of the Araluen Kingdom, at your service Emma."

Holy cow. What was happening?

 **Araluen means place of the waterlilies.**

 **Also I never usually post two chapters on the same day, but I forgot to upload this story the first time so you get two chapters today!**


	3. Chapter 3

There are two known facts about Princess Emma: she loves her family unconditionally and she loves going for hunts with Ruby. One unknown fact is that she has a slight fear of heights.

This slight fear is what had her clinging to Killian, with her head tucked down so she didn't see anything, for dear life as he flew them back to his castle.

 _"How long is it back to your castle?" she had asked as they walked to the edge of the forest to find his three friends._

 _He shrugged. "It's only about a half a day's journey on foot. But no worries we should get there in no time."_

 _"How do you plan to get there so quickly if it's a half days' journey?" she had questioned him._

 _Above their heads, Killian caught sight of his friends flying towards them, their wings beating quickly in what was apparently a race to see who got thome first. He smiled back at her with a slight smirk on his face. "I never did say that we were walking Emma."_

 _It was then that she squeaked as he picked her up bridal style and began to fly off towards his apparent home, all the while Emma's grip on around his neck and the blush on her face both stayed fiercely in place._

After what was, indeed, a very short trip and Emma was safely on the castle grounds did she dare to open her eyes to observe her new surroundings. The first thing she saw was flowers. Thousands of flowers filled her eyesight. The garden had flowers of every color that worked together to create a beautiful collage she saw before her.

The pathways were lined with pink azalea bushes and hellebores to give it a stunning entrance. There were rows of brightly colored pansies mixed in with white daffodils. There where double rock roses with their beautiful light pink color and puschkinias and their pastel blue hues mixing together in another area of garden.

The thing that took Emma's breath away though was the pond that was in the middle of the flowers. Surrounding the pond were Summer Snowflakes with purple Acoma Iris' appearing every now and then. Beyond the pond, next to the cliff that lead down to overlook the sea, was a row of Redbud trees.

Killian looked at her face and smiled softly. "Would you like to go look at the pond?" She only nodded in agreement as he took her arm and led her to the pond. As they approached she saw that the pond was filled with pink and white waterlilies gently floating on the water and a few frogs floating on lily pads. Overall, Emma was in love with this castle and she had only seen the outside garden.

"Long ago, this land had many waterlilies that were found in the streams and lakes everywhere, which is how it got the name Araluen. Overtime though, they've disappeared but we're trying to make a comeback with them." Killian explained as he looked ahead of her to the row of trees that overlooked the ocean. She couldn't do much else but look up at him and nod her head. But as quickly as his mood seemed to change, it changed right back to the warm and cheerful prince he had been. "Now, I think you've been through a lot. Would you like to see your room so you can freshen up a bit and rest?" She nodded and smiled as he led her through the gardens and into the grand castle that stood before her.

After leading her to her room Killian excused himself, saying if she needed anything to just pull the cord by the vanity and someone would be along to assist her. She looked around at the room before her and sighed deeply before going to the bed and plopping facedown into the soft feather pillows, the days activities finally catching up with her tired body.

How was she going to explain how she got here to them? 'Oh, I'm pretty sure I stepped in a fairy ring and now I'm here.' Well… she could _actually_ tell them that. It was that simple really. But they had said that humans didn't travel here much anymore because the rings had been ripped of their magic, so that's a whole other story that she couldn't tell because she didn't know why.

 _It could have been your own magic_ she thought to herself before shaking her head in the pillows and groaning out loud. "How am I supposed to get home?" she mumbled to herself before sleep overtook her.

A few hours later there was a knock on the door of Emma's room. When no one answered, a servant came in to find her curled up in a ball on the bed, sleeping soundly. She quickly went over to the sleeping girl and gently shook her to wake her up.

"Excuse me miss," she whispered. Emma only groaned and rolled over. So she shook her again, this time speaking up a little louder. "Miss?" Nothing. After two more futile attempts, she huffed before grabbing the blanket and pulling it off of the sleeping Emma.

"Miss Emma!" she loudly exclaimed and Emma shot up like a rock. She looked around in a daze before her eyes settled on the smiling girl. "Ah! You're finally awake! Good to see it. Dinner will be served in an hour and the Prince has requested you dine with him tonight." She took in her sleepy hair and the dirt around her fingers. "First things first, we need to get you cleaned up."

Without giving Emma much of a choice, she gently grabbed her hands and pulled her out of bed and to the attached washroom that already had a bath prepared for her. She spent the next twenty minutes washing away all the dirt and grime from her adventures that day; had she only been here for a few hours? When she was done, the servant girl, Zanna, was there to help her get dressed and ready for dinner. The dress she had chosen for her was a deep red, long sleeved dress with bows used to tie the sleeves together on the arms. The chest had gold floral trimmings along the sides of the front and across the top in a straight neckline. Down the middle of the skirt, the gold trimming doubled up and continued down to the end of the skirt. Her shoes were the same color red and her hair had been done into a simple half up hair style with a braided crown. Giving Emma a once over, Zanna smiled and nodded at her handiwork.

A knock on the door alerted them that dinner had started and their presence was being requested.

"Right this way miss. I'll show you the way," Zanna said. Emma followed her through a maze of hallways that she was sure she would get lost in if she was by herself until they came across the entrance to the dining hall. She led her in, bowed slightly, and turned around to leave. This left Emma alone in a hall with the Prince looking at her with his mouth slightly agape. He really wasn't expecting her to look as radiant as she did in that dress. But he did have to admit it, red was her color indeed.

Quickly he got up from his seat to walk towards her. "Emma," he greeted, "you look lovely this evening."

"Thank you," is all she managed to get out before her stomach let out a growl announcing that she was hungry. Killian just chuckled and led her to a seat to the right of his own that he pulled out for her to sit down.

"I'm very happy to see you here Emma. I was afraid you were going to sleep the whole day away," he started as the staff brought out two plates of food and presented it to them.

She picked up her fork and examined the food. It looked normal enough. "Well, I probably would have if Zanna hadn't come to get me," she chuckled after her first bite of what was a very delicious fish entrée.

He couldn't help but smile at the sound of her laugh. "Well, I'm glad that she was able to get you ready in such a short amount of time. She truly is one of our best ladies around here."

Emma nodded and took another bite. "She reminds me of one of my ladies back home," she said before she could even think about what was coming out of her mouth. She hadn't told them anything about herself yet, so they didn't actually know she was a princess.

Killian's head tilted to the side a bit at her comment before he asked. "Do you mean to tell me I'm in the presence of a princess from the human world?"

"Ummm." She couldn't deny it, she just hated telling people she was royalty. They always treated her different as soon as they found out. But she couldn't exactly lie to Killian either. He was gracious enough to open his home to her. Oh well.

"Yes, I'm Princess Emma of the Enchanted Forest. Daughter of Queen Snow White and King David," she casually explained and went back to eating her fish. When she noticed that Killian had a shocked look on his face, she put her fork down and sighed, her fears seaming to be coming true. "Look, can you please not look at me like that? I don't want to be treated differently because I'm royalty. I'm not even from this realm, so please, just treat me as a normal guest." She pleaded with him. _Please let him be different._

Killian immediately shot up from his seat and ran out of the room, leaving Emma to eat along in the dining hall. She looked at the door he had run through in shock before shaking her head and turning back to the food. But not even a minute after he had left, he returned, this time flying with an open book against his chest.

He landed to her right and slammed the book down, startling Emma and making the table shake a little. She turned her head to say something to him, but the words left when she saw his face. His face was split into the biggest smile and he had a mix of bewilderment and excitement showing.

"Emma," he grinned, "I think I know how you got here."

So much time was spent looking up flowers that I hope it was worth it!


	4. Chapter 4

_Before the Evil Queen's reign, trading between humans and Fay was a flourishing business. The Enchanted Forest was the only spot in the human world that had enough potential for magic that the Fay could safely cross worlds there. Once they entered the human world, it was a simple transportation spell for them to be across the world in the bat a of wing._

 _Trade flourished under the rule of Queen Eva and King Leopold. The amount of Fay entering the Enchanted Forest and chose to stay were at an all time high. The King and Queen welcomed the Fay and enjoyed having them in court and doing business with them. The partnership and kinship that had started almost two centuries before their rule was the strongest it had been._

 _But the Queen soon passed due to illness, and the Evil Queen came into power not long after. Under her rule, she cast out the King's only daughter and true heir to the throne, Princess Snow White and put a bounty on her head. With the fear of the Fay and them using their magic against her, she also banished all Fay people back to their own world, some having never been there because their families had settled in the Enchanted Forest for generations._

 _The Fay, having bestowed the Evil Queen with the ability to use magic, fought to try and take it back. But once magic is given, it's impossible to be taken away. So, unable to take away her magic, the Fay Elders placed a spell upon Snow White. They knew that Snow would reign supreme one day and give birth to a child. That child would be the product of true love and have the ability to wield magic. This child would be able to travel to the Fay world and open the portals back up between our world and the Enchanted Forest._

Emma could barely comprehend the words she had been reading for the past who knows how long. In front of her she had this book that supposedly told her how she was able to give the fairy circle power again and why she was born with magic. But she couldn't believe anything she was reading.

So the fairies did gift her magic, but she was supposed to open the portals again? How did she even do that?! Where to start? Emma's head was starting to hurt trying to think too much about all this.

She needed to get out of here.

Emma quickly rose from her seat and ran from her lavish room. She ran through halls, down some stairs, and around more corners than she could count. Eventually she ended up outside the castle, in the back gardens she concluded. There she walked aimlessly among the flowers and bushes, admiring that they were all the same flowers from the front of the castle, but they were arranged in different color patterns and patches in the back than in the front. It was similar, yet different, which was a nice touch. Maybe they were Killian's more preferred type of flowers?

She quickly shook her head at the thoughts of flowers and Killian. She had to figure out how she was to get home. Well, the book was right in the fact that she was able to get here. So maybe she could get home the same way the fairies did before they were banished. But how did they? Did they have their own version of fairy rings? Did they call them human rings? All she could do was sigh as she sat down on a stone bench overlooking the ocean. She thought back to what Killian had said about the water lilies and wished she could have seen that.

A sudden thought occurred to her. Her magic at home was hard to manage maybe because of the lack of magic in the land anymore. But here, magic was abundant. Maybe it would be stronger here? Thinking nothing came from not trying, she stood up with determination and looked out at the ocean. Sure, he had said lakes and ponds, but she wanted to try it on a big scale.

Emma looked around and plucked the nearest flower and held it gently between her hands. The books Blue had given her had told her to try and find the energy of the object she was holding when trying to make things. She focused deep inside herself and found her own energy, which was a comforting familiar feeling. Next, she reached out to the flower in her hands and found a little ball of pink energy that matched the color of the flower. Next, she combined both of their energies into her hands and focused on what she wanted.

In her head, she pictured the sea in front of her with thousands of water lilies gracing its surface.

She wasn't sure how long she stood focused, but she suddenly felt her magic appear and when she opened her eyes expecting to see water lilies on the sea, she was met instead with the same sea before her. No flowers had appeared.

She looked down at her hands and at the now dulled flower and quickly said a quick thank you to the plant for letting her use its life energy before releasing it to the ocean below.

Behind her, she heard the sound of feet running towards her and turned around, ready to go back in if they asked her to. She was met with Killian's face and the biggest smile she had ever seen anyone wear.

"Emma, you should see this," is all he said before he picked her up and quickly transported her to the front of the castle to the pond she had loved upon arriving. Except now it was covered with water lilies. The same ones she had pictured in her head not five minutes earlier.

"I… But. How.." was all she could get out before she was hugged by Killian.

"I knew you could do it," he murmured and hugged her tighter. All she could do was smile and hug him back.

Maybe she could do this magic thing.


	5. Chapter 5

One month.

That's how long Emma had been gone.

For thirty days, Snow and David have fretted over the sudden disappearance of their daughter.

For thirty days, Snow only blamed herself. She should have stayed with her. She shouldn't have left her alone. What if someone had taken her? What if her magic had suddenly activated and she was transported to another country she had no clue about? Her list of concerns and worries was a mile long.

Ruby had scouted the woods at least three times a day since her disappearance and always came back with the same answer. Her scent just stops around the spot she had rested at. No other scents to be found. Nothing new to report.

"David, it's been a whole month. What if… what if she's dead?" Snow cried to her husband.

David quickly got up from his seat and went to console his wife. "Now Snow, I don't think you give our Emma enough credit. You've been training her for years on survival and we've trained on defense and fighting. I believe she's still out there, and fighting to get back to us." He spoke softly as he stroked her hair gently with one hand and held her with the other.

They stayed like that for a few minutes more until Snow calmed down. She looked up at him, her eyes red rimmed from her crying, and smiled a little. "You're right," is all she said before she laid her head back onto his shoulder.

A sudden crashing sound and a wave of coughing from the other room pulled them out of their moods quite quickly and David quickly pulled out the sword from his hilt, Snow reaching for her bow and arrows she had stashed in the room. Both quietly nodded to each other and started to advance to the sounds. What started out as coughing slowly died down and began to turn into shouts of joy from what sounded like two people.

"Killian! We did it! I'm back home!"

Snow quickly dropped her bow at the familiar sound and bolted through the doors to lay her eyes on her daughter sprawled out on the floor with books and plants surrounding her. She didn't even notice the other person next to her before she charged to her daughter and scooped her up.

"Emma, oh my Emma," she whispered as she gave her the biggest hug she could manage. Not even two seconds later, both women were enveloped by David. The family was finally reunited.

Killian, meanwhile, stood up and awkwardly backed away from the family, wanting to give them as much room as possible.

When Emma started to talk about it being hard to breathe her parents finally let her go. Emma's smile was big as she looked at her parents.

"Hi Mom, Dad. I'm finally back," she said and looked to Killian and motioned for him to come over. Killian sheepishly worked his way over and took hold of her outstretched hand, which Snow and David seemed to take notice of. "I've got so much to talk to you about."

Her parents looked at Killian, their daughter's glowing smile, and then down at their joined hands and then finally spoke.

"Oh, yes honey, I believe we do." David motioned for them to exit room. He felt they were going to want somewhere comfy for this next part.

" _Okay Emma! Try it one more time!" Killian encouraged from atop the wall across the garden._

" _Easy enough for you to say!" she protested back, but took a deep breath and began to focus her energy. She pictured herself sitting next to Killian atop the wall, so that she could watch the sun set on the ocean with him._

 _There was a sudden appearance of white smoke, but was not as thick and heavy as it was before. She opened her eyes, half expecting to be at the bottom of the wall, like she had been every time she tried to before. Instead, she was met with the sight of the ocean before her and an arm wrapped protectively around her waist. To her left, Killian was beaming at her._

" _You did it," he said and gave her a quick hug before turning back to the sea. "And just in time. Sun is about to set." He turned to her and smiled. "And it looks like it's going to be a beautiful one."_

 _Emma could only blush and look forward. She never did protest that his arm was still around her waist. Nor did she say anything when their hands somehow found each other during their time together on the wall._

"So, basically, what you've told us, is that you fell through a fairy ring and ended up in the Fay world?" her father asked. Emma nodded.

"And while you were there, you found out that you were able to open up portals between our world and theirs?" her mother questioned next.

"Yupp."

"So the reason you couldn't come back was because you had to learn how to open said portals correct?" Another nod.

"And while you were there, Prince Killian helped train you and housed you?" Her father eyed the Fay in question.

Emma giggled while Killian squirmed under the scrutiny. "Yes Father. He's been the biggest help to me. If it wasn't for him, I don't think I would have made it back home so quickly." Emma unconsciously grabbed his hand and sent him a gentle smile.

"Mmm-hmm," was his only answer, his eyes still trained on the male in front of him.

Snow quickly stood up, causing everyone to look at her, to the relief of Killian.

"Well, I think it's time to turn in. I'm sure you've both spent a lot of energy trying to get here today. We'll be headed to bed now. Killian, Emma can show you to one of the guest rooms. Maybe one in the same hall as you dear, in case he needs anything?" Snow spoke to Emma and winked an eye before quickly pulling David from the room before he could say anything to protest what she had said. Emma giggled and Killian's face paled a little. He could tell that woman, Snow White, was a force to reckon with if he were to cross her bad side. He'd try very much to stay on her good side.

Emma offered her arm to Killian, pulling him from his thoughts and looking at her.

"Well, now it's my turn to play host to you. Shall we turn in for the night?"

He smiled lightly at her and took her arm. "After you, my Swan."

She shook her head.

They continued to walk in comfortable silence a few more minutes before she spoke again. "Why on Earth did you start calling me that?"

"Well, you once commented on how the swan was one of your more favored animals. I believe they suite you very well," he explained and took her hand to kiss it.

She didn't even blush at his actions and instead just took her hand from his. She put her hands on his face to give him a chaste kiss. It was a swift kiss, one that left him wanting more and her with a smug smile on her face.

"This is your room. My room is right down the hall, the only other one on the left. Good night Killian," she explained and walked away before he could get another word in.

There was one thing he was certain about. Emma was a lot like Snow. He didn't know whether that terrified him or not.


End file.
